Recent technological advances, especially in the fields of diagnostic and therapeutic medicine, require ever-increasing quantities of radioactive isotopes. These radioisotopes are typically produced via irradiation of target materials in a small number of nuclear reactors or cyclotron accelerators across the globe. Isotopes produced in reactors are mainly from the neutron, gamma (n, γ) reaction (radiative capture). By contrast, cyclotrons bombard a target with a stream of heavy, charged particles (commonly protons).
The highly desired radioisotopes are generally produced by a limited number of large facilities yielding a small variety of isotopes. Isotope selection is also limited, because the most useful isotopes often have short half-lives, making transportation a problem. The specific use of nuclear reactors also has the disadvantage of creating radioactive waste that is becoming increasingly problematic.
A direct consequence of these limitations is that research and development in certain areas has stagnated because of the issues with production, transportation and economies of scale. Numerous industrial sectors would benefit from a compact, efficient, clean source of isotopes that is geographically close to the point of use, so as to take advantage of shorter half-life variants.
It is therefore preferable to have a system and method that optimizes the production of the pertinent radioisotopes while minimizing the total energy needed for commercial production. The instant invention provides a solution to the foregoing problems.